Since its invention in the nineteenth century, the traditional long afterglow phosphors of ZnS series have been improved greatly, several typical products have been produced, including ZnS:Cu (which emits green light), (CaSr)S:Bi (which emits blue light) and (ZnCd)S:Cu (which emits yellowish-orange light), and they have been applied in some commercial fields, however the shortcoming of these phosphors were: poor stability, easy to decompose in air, easy to turn gray even black when irradiated under sun light, only 0.5-2 hrs short luminescent afterglow time, and luminous brightness was weak etc., all these can not satisfy the requirement for practice use. In order to improve the brightness and afterglow time, radioactive luminescent materials were made, in which some radioactive elements such as CO,Ra,H.sub.3 were added, although such elements can make the phosphor continuously give out light and the phosphor has once been used in air dashboard, clock fields etc., but due to the radioactive contamination and rather expensive price, the application of the phosphor was greatly confined.
The aluminate long afterglow luminescent material was invented at the beginning of the nineties, as stated in China patent application laid open No. CN1053807A and China patent No. ZL92110744.7, its luminescent brightness, long afterglow character and stability were obviously superior to the above sulphide series products, and it has already been used in the articles for daily use, low illumination indicator board, clock, etc.
However these phosphors still have bad anti-moisture character, and they have strict restriction over the raw material's purity and form, besides, the production cost was higher, as well as single luminescent color etc., therefore it also can not satisfy the requirement of usage very well.
In 1968, T. L. Barry published the research results of luminescent spectrum and excitation spectrum of Me.sub.3 MgSi.sub.2 O.sub.8 :Eu.sup.2+ (Me=Ca, Sr and Ba) and Me.sub.2 SiO.sub.4 :Eu.sup.2+ (Me=Sr and Ba)(J. Electrochem. Soc. V115 No. 7, 733-738, 1968: V115 No. 11, 1181-1184, 1968); then T. L. Barry published the research result in luminescent and excitation spectrum of BaMg.sub.2 Si.sub.2 O.sub.7 :Eu.sup.2+ (J. Electrochem. Soc. V117 No. 3, 381-385, 1970); Blasse, G etc. published fluorescence of Eu.sup.2+ activated silicates (Philips Res. Rep. (1968), 23 (2), 189-200) in 1968. However no report on silicate phosphor which having long afterglow property has been published.